The exhibition at the Royal Art & History Museum is the only change to get a glimpse of the famous Stoclet Palace in Brussels which was designed by the Viennese architect Josef Hoffmann and is not open to the public.
As previously reported, the family owning Stoclet Palace is contesting calls from the Brussels Secretary of State for Heritage to allow public access to the building a few days a year. The building, which has been unoccupied since 2002, was included in UNESCO’s World Heritage list in 2009. To be listed, a site must be of outstanding universal value and meet at least one out of ten selection criteria.
In this case, the building met two of the criteria. It represents a masterpiece of human creative genius and exhibits an important interchange of human values, such as developments in architecture.
"Drawing on the values of the Vienna Secession and its many artists, including Koloman Moser and Gustav Klimt, the Stoclet House was recognised from the beginning as one of the most representative and refined works of this school. Created in Brussels, a key location for Art Nouveau, it exercised a considerable influence on modernism in architecture and on the birth of Art Deco."
It could be expected that a listed building like this should also be open to the public but this seems not to be the case according to Unesco’s guidelines for the implementation of the World Heritage Convention. When listing the Stoclet Palace, Unesco wrote that the management of conservation of the palace meets the most demanding criteria and international standards. Unesco did not reply in time to a request for clarification of the rules.
The exhibition ‘Josef Hoffmann: Falling for Beauty’ is dedicated to Hoffman and his genius for “total design” and presents ca 200 well-known works as well as several rare pieces from private collections. Hoffman designed everything, not only buildings, but also gardens, picture frames and plinths for art collections, carpets, furniture, porcelain and cutlery.
Visitors to the exhibition will find replicas or models of not only the Stoclet Palace but also other buildings that Hoffmann designed besides furniture and art works.
M. Apelblat
The Brussels Times
